Superuse and upcycling through design. Approaches and tools · Superuse and upcycling through design. Approaches and tools Serena Baiani, Paola Altamura Department Planning Design

SBE19 Brussels BAMB Circpath Conference | 07 February 2019

Superuse and upcycling through design.

Approaches and tools

Serena Baiani, Paola Altamura

Department Planning Design and Technology of Architecture

Sapienza University of Rome | Italy

Contents

• Italian current situation with reference to C&D waste

• Italian GPP policies as a first approach to circularity in the built environment

• National experiences of designing and building with waste materials_ ARCò

• Facing the main national challenge in the C&D waste management: upcycling inert waste _ Atlante Inerti Project

• Superuse design approach: application of the harvest map tool in Italy

_ Superuse refurbishment of a Villa in the northern lakes district

_ A harvest map for the urban regeneration of a former industrial site in Rome

• Conclusions and outlook _ Circular District Tiburtino feasibility study

S. Baiani, P. Altamura | 1

16/02/2019Paola Altamura

Italian current situation with reference to C&D waste

• In Italy, the renovation and substitution of existing buildings, not conceived to be easily deconstructed, generates 53 million tons/year of C&D waste [ISPRA 2017

Rapporto Rifiuti Speciali 264]

• The same quantification of C&D waste produced each year suffers a recognized uncertainty [Rapporto Italia del Riciclo, https://www.fondazionesvilupposostenibile.org] due to a non-widespread data collection on the national territory, which leaves out small volumes, often illegally managed

• Almost 80% of C&D waste is mixed inert waste

• The recovery rate is still limited, especially within the building value chain:

recycled aggregates (about 70%) are mainly used in road works and environmental recoveries and, only to a very limited extent (3%) in constructions (fillings, bases)

• Recycling is widely applied to other fractions (metals, glass, plastics), as well as to wooden components and gypsum board (Gyproc return to producer scheme)

• Reuse is constantly implemented in restoration to traditional materials, but not for new materials and components.



Italian GPP policies as a first approach to circularity in the built environment

• Italy is the first EU Country to have made GPP (Green Public Procurement) 100% mandatory in sectors implying energy uses, including construction

• Adoption of Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM) for Buildings within the National Action Plan for GPP (DM 24/12/2015 and update DM 11/10/2017) made mandatory by Law 221/2015 and by the New Procurement Code (D.Lgs 50/2016)

• CAM contain an articulated series of criteria, including a set of rules promoting the closed-loop use of building materials for both renovation and new construction of public buildings:

• use of a minimum recycled content of 15% on the total weight of the materials used (5% for concrete elements)

• design for deconstruction applied to at least 50% of buildings components used in the intervention

• 70% diversion from landfill of generated C&D waste

• pre-demolition audits

• reuse of stone and mixed (stone and bricks) masonry for foundation and elevation works.



Italian GPP policies as a first approach to circularity in the built environment

• CAM establish a set of measures strictly related to the objective of Resource Efficiency, among a wide range of energy and eco-compatibility targets

• The mandatory recycled content is still a limited target lack of consideration of the higher value obtainable from the reuse of materials

• Even though not systematically applied yet, this mandatory tool is helping to start a radical change in the construction industry


Example

EPR (Extendend Producer Responsibility) model

Developer

Centro Materia Rinnovabile, a private research and communication institution collecting the main construction industry stakeholdersGoalcreating a “Collective Construction System” bypromoting normative and other tools which couldhelp applying circular practices in the buildingsector.

National experiences of designing and building with waste materials: ARCò


Renovation of an orphanage | Bolivia 2014Green roof base with reused plastic caps

ARCò – Architecture and Cooperation

Photos, courtesy of Alessio Battistella, ARCò

ARCò | Casa Chiaravalle, secondary use of reclaimed materials plus earthbags


Casa Chiaravalle, Milan (Italy) | June 2018

• Developed within the Design and Build with Økm (local and recycled materials) Workshop, EU Erasmus+ Project BIØN (Building Impact Zero Network)

• Realization of a 1:1 object inside the complex of Casa Chiaravalle, a place confiscated from the organized crime that in the next future will become a reception center for immigrants.

Photo, courtesy of Alessio Battistella, ARCòPhoto, courtesy of Alessio Battistella, ARCò

• Use of a pre-existing wooden frame

• Team enrolled students, migrants, NEET, unemployed, architects, engineers, coordinated by ARCò, in a four-week training and hands-on experience

• Use of the building techniques of earthbagsand earthship, with natural and upcycled waste materials (reclaimed windows and wooden frames, glass bottles, plexiglaspanels, pallets)

• Search for appropriate technologies with little processing or transporting and low environmental and economic costs (5,000 €)

• Creation of a space for a discussion on the local sustainability exploring the potential of alternative and low cost building techniques.

ARCò | Casa Chiaravalle, secondary use of reclaimed materials plus earthbags


Photos, courtesy of Alessio Battistella, ARCò

Photo, courtesy of Alessio Battistella, ARCò

The practice of recycling material in such a way that it maintains and/or accrues value over time

Search of discarded materials, aiming to identify their reuse potentialities and turn their features into an added value for new products/buildings


Research Team’s approach and research focuses

Goal

Increase of resource productivity in the National building sector

Focuses

1. Facing the main criticality (in terms of quantity) consisting in the failure to reintroduce inert waste in the building sector as building materials or products

UPCYCLING

2. Integrating adaptive reuse of existing buildings (a widespread practice in the Country) with superuse of components and materials, a strategy inherent to the preservative Italian approach, preferable to recycling according to the EU Waste Hierarchy (EU Dir. 98/2008), but still underestimated by Italian legislation

SUPERUSE


The practice of recycling material in such a way that it maintains and/or accrues value over time


Research Team’s approach and research focuses

Goal

Increase of resource productivity in the National building sector

Focuses

1. Facing the main criticality (in terms of quantity) consisting in the failure to reintroduce inert waste in the building sector as building materials or products

UPCYCLING

2. Integrating adaptive reuse of existing buildings (a widespread practice in the Country) with superuse of components and materials, a strategy inherent to the preservative Italian approach, preferable to recycling according to the EU Waste Hierarchy (EU Dir. 98/2008), but still underestimated by Italian legislation

SUPERUSE


R&D ON RECYCLED AGGREGATES AND DESIGN OF NEW PRODUCTS

TESTING TOOLS SUCH AS HARVEST MAP AND SUPERUSE FEASIBILITY

Upcycling inert waste | Atlante Inerti Project


www.atlanteinertiproject.yolasite.com

• Information, research and development project started in 2013 from which a business project derives, with the aim of promoting innovative uses of recycled aggregates

• Development of a geo-referenced map of certified aggregates suppliers in the national territory, drawing attention to the supply (recycling plants) and encouraging the meeting with demand (industries, construction companies) through networking activities

• First specific database in Italy and derives from an international benchmarking activity

• Team: Architects Paola Altamura, Giulia Chiummiento, Massimo Cutini

Graphic by Atlante Inerti Project

AIP| Large scale 3D additive printing (D-Shape) with recycled sand


Since 2016, AIP has undertaken design and prototyping activities on concrete products with the exclusive use of recycled aggregates, identifying the most suitable standard and innovative technologies for an unprecedented experimentation in Italy.

• experimentation phase with the a large scale 3D printer, used for the first time by AIP with a 100% recycled sand from C&D

• characterization of the innovative concrete carried out with experimental tests developed by the CertiMaC Laboratory in Faenza (ENEA, CNR)

• evaluation and comparison of the mechanical resistance levels achievable with the printing technique applied to recycled aggregates with two different binders (cement and magnesium)

• results showed that the magnesium binder, preferable from the environmental point of view (limited content of embodied energy), proved to be less efficient than cement in terms of mechanical properties (magnesium bonded concrete, compressive strength of 7 MPa; cement bonded concrete, 25 MPa). The second mix has a medium-high strength class (C20/25, NSC - Normal Strenght Concrete) and can be used for different types of non-structural products.

AIP| Large scale 3D additive printing (D-Shape) with recycled sand


AIP created a prototype (cubic with a side of 60 cm, as a bench or a bollard) designed to test the technical and aesthetic performance of the recycled concrete with cement binder: convincing result in terms of aesthetics and performance, though the duration and costs of the production technique are still too high due to the level of technical development of the printer.

Photos by Atlante Inerti Project


AIP | Vibrated precast recycled concrete modules for outdoor use

AIP then developed a system of outdoor modular furniture pieces with conventional concrete vibro-compression techniques, which were tested (with the technical support of Conselab Srl) and prototyped, currently ready for industrialization (Project System-T Ricoeso, based on a packed bag of recycled sand developed by a roman recycling facility).

Photos and graphic by Atlante Inerti Project



Source: Baiani S., Altamura P. (2018), “Waste materials superuse and upcycling in architecture: design and experimentation”, in TECHNE, vol. 16, pp. 142‐151, ISSN 2239‐0243, http://www.fupress.net/index.php/techne/article/view/23035

S. Baiani, P. Altamura | 122016 | Co-founded by 2017 | AIP awarded Maker of Merit

Graphic summary of the System T-Ricoeso project, by AIP



Graphic and photos by AIP


Superuse Studios’ Harvest Map toolWeb GIS maps for sharing local resource flows for architecture:• The design process should start with the scouting of materials, including any wasted material,

component, product suitable for use in architecture (by-products, defective products, dead stock, leftovers, processing waste, C&D waste, etc.) available in the area adjacent to the intervention site, within a limited distance - on average a radius of 25 km.

Superuse design approach: application of the harvest map tool in Italy

Source: https://www.oogstkaart.nl/


Superuse refurbishment of a Villa in the northern lakes district

Collaboration of the RT with architect Césare Peeren from the Dutch atelier Superuse Studios in the restoration of a listed building (a private Villa) in the northern lake district in Italy, started in September 2017 and completed in October 2018:• Preliminary geographic based researches and following surveys, by a multidisciplinary team,

for the selection of potentially interested companies and the identification of the flows of resources not reintroduced in the production cycles of the same or of other companies

• Database of available resources (waste category, type of material, size and frequency of production, price)

The Villa; Césare Peeren during research activities at the Villa; leftover metal panels found at a company in Pozzo d’Adda, Milan.

Photos by Paola Altamura



Selection of components suitable for use as integrative layers of the envelope and the vertical and horizontal partitions of the building and/or as components and materials for finishes and furnishings: • fabric processing waste (defective silk and textile selvages) • by-products derived from laser cutting of metal sheets• surplus production of metal sandwich panels• disused textile machinery with various metal profiles• waste from the production process of mortars/resins for

architectural finishes. Design and construction workshop with Dutch and Italian teams (14 international designers).

Details from the Cloak room wardrobe by Studio Cifra during and after the workshop, photo by Denis GuzzoSource: VILLA MAGGIORE press release, https://re-use.eu/



The reuse of finishing mortars was developed in collaboration with Stefano Mereu, the producer of a mono-component water based resin for floors and walls, called "Malta" (mortar)• product characterized by particular

attention to ecological sustainability in the whole process of manufacturing, production, application

• compared to standard resins, the two layers composing the finishing are made of one-component water based polymers with very low VOC emissions in the drying phase (52 compared to 104 which is the maximum by law)

• once dried, it is VOC free• production process with no CO2 nor other

harmful emissions, based on an auto-ignition chemical reaction

• use of locally sourced raw materials. Testing the reuse of leftovers of Malta, photo by Paola Altamura



Testing the reuse of leftovers of Malta with Stefano Mereu, photo by Paola Altamura

Reuse of different colored maltas in one the of bathroom of the Villa, photo by Paola Altamura

The Villa’s living room with the “Firehosescape” by Co2RO, photo by Denis GuzzoSource: VILLA MAGGIORE press release, https://re-use.eu/


A harvest map for the urban regeneration of a former industrial site in Rome

The first application of the harvest map to the city of Rome concerned the area of the former industrial site Papareschi in the Ostiense - Marconi district, within a Thesis conducted with the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy. The project, aimed at the regeneration of the former Miralanza factory with the reuse of building materials and industrial waste sourced on site, applied this process: materials scouting phase, creation of a harvest map, redefinition of functions and spaces, technological project of reversible building components with reclaimed materials.

Source: D’Alessandro E. 2018, MI.REUSE, regeneration design of a formerindustrial site in Rome by components and materials from reusing processes, Master’s Thesis, mentor Giordano R, co-mentor Baiani S and Altamura P, available at: https://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/8303/.

Companies contacted within a radius of 25 km from the project area. Image, courtesy of E. D’Alessandro, Polytechnic University of Turin.


Experimentation deals with a landscape of considerable quantities of reusable waste, coming from construction and demolition sites, building residues from collapses, the presence of abandoned infrastructures (1 km of disused railway line) and waste from the commercial supply chain (paper, cardboard, plastic and nylon mix, pallets, textile scraps, bumpers), materials found in the immediate proximity of the site.


Selected areas fort the sourcing of materials, in the proximity of the site. Image, courtesy of E. D’Alessandro, Polytechnic University of Turin.


The definition of the harvest map was based, in the first phase, on the materials coming from the planned demolition of 2 buildings of the early twentieth century: • bricks and tiles (whole and fragments, about 160,000 elements), easily separable and

reusable• collapse of the roofs of the Ex Miralanza left in situ tiles in fragments (56,000 Kg)

reusable in cocciopesto or as inert• for ferrous and wooden materials, which cannot be recovered due to their state of

conservation, a recovery company was contacted with a factory located 13.5 km from the project area: the hypothesis is, in fact, to retain in situ all re-usable materials and to transfer only the waste that cannot be included in the reuse project.

The need to create a new roof, has oriented the research on structures made with metal components, dry and disassemblable:• two accessible pavilions of the Fiera di Roma complex, abandoned and undergoing

demolition, have constituted an important "mine” with steel pillars (54), removable and reassemblable reticular structures, metal tubular uprights for scaffolding (about 9,000) and technical elements, not directly reusable, but to be included in the harvest map (PVC window frames)

• research on the recovery cycle of PVC sheets, reusable in the roofing system.


Conclusions and outlook

• Harvest mapping approach calls for the anticipation of materials selection at the veryfirst stages of design original architectural outcomes

• Application of upcycling and superuse to the refurbishment of exisisting buildings:

• gives value to the traditional approach of reuse in restoration in Italy

• makes maximum value of the energy embodied in the building fabric

• raises issue of compatibility

• Need for integration/balancing between recycling + upcycling + superuse strategies

• Need to consider the chemical characteristics and the potential of eco and bio toxicity of materials before reusing them definition of selection criteria (C2C)

• Primary barrier to the superuse approach in Italy: difficulty in interpreting and consequently applying the waste legislation, in particular on End of Waste and by-products

• Circular District Tiburtino feasibility study: testing circular potential on a dense, central, evolving neighborhood in Rome, from building stock analysis, to harvest mapping, to the design of a reversible component for the renovation of facades.


Thank you for your attention

Paola Altamura

M.S.Arch. | PhD in Environmental Design | Research fellow and lecturer

Department Planning Design and Technology of Architecture

E-mail | [email protected]

Mobile |+393405134638

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Superuse and upcycling through design. Approaches and tools · Superuse and upcycling through design. Approaches and tools Serena Baiani, Paola Altamura Department Planning Design